


Yogurt and Jam

by stellaar



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cormac is a Mess, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Love Triangle, POV Third Person, Pining, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 06:34:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23466949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellaar/pseuds/stellaar
Summary: Cormac McLaggen’s never been one to believe in love. Or relationships. Or commitment. Or feelings even. But maybe he should.
Relationships: Blaise Zabini/Original Female Character, Cormac McLaggen/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 7





	Yogurt and Jam

_Jane Cordelia Wong is one of those popular girls who you can’t help but feel the urge to take down. Who you envy and want to be._

He thought of how polished she was. _Too_ polished sometimes. 

From a glance, it looks like she has porcelain skin. Clear and glossy. Not even a single blemish or scar. No spots. Glass skin. But she has freckles. He’s seen them. They cover her face from cheek to cheek, right below her eyes. It looks like someone took the stars and put them on her cheeks. _I’m sure if I looked long enough, I could find a constellation,_ Cormac thought to himself. But no one else knows she has freckles. She covers them up with BB cream. 

She likes to make people think they’re close to her, when they’re not. He’s seen her do it. She tells them childhood anecdotes. They feel special, hearing those stories, especially since she never talks about life pre-Hogwarts. But Cormac knows better. He knows that those stories, she really could give less than a damn about. But it wins them over anyway. It makes them feel special. She has that effect. He’s heard people she’s said she’s not close with say the opposite. Ernie MacMillian. Padma Patil.

And then there’s Padma’s sister and Lavender Brown who say they’re close with her for clout. To Jane’s year and below, she’s interesting, mysterious almost. She spends time with the upperclassmen and the upperclassmen only. And upperclassmen are taken with her too. She’s a part of the group, not the annoying tag-a-long. 

Jane keeps her guard up in a way no one else can see. Cormac can’t tell if she lets him see it or if she’s just not good enough to keep him out.

But of course, that was all a theory.

Sometimes he wondered if Jane was playing the same game on him and he hopes not. 

Because he remembers how warm Jane’s hand is when they hold hands; the weight of her body when she rests his legs on his lap; the soft, silkiness of her hair when she rests her head on his shoulder as she sleeps on the carriage ride to Hogwarts each year; that intimacy and closeness he feels when she applies his lip balm for him using her finger; that feeling he gets when he’s with her, like he’s out of breath but the good kind, the kind you get after running; and the tightness of her hugs, like if she pulls away, she’ll lose you forever, and the warm, sweet murmurs she says when she’s tired that makes you feel like the most special person on planet Earth and how it reminds you of honey-

“You going to keep staring at me, McLaggen?” Jane said.

-and he hopes it isn’t all fake. 

She was writing an essay for Transfiguration, occasionally flipping through the pages of her textbook.

This was one of the rare times where Jane agreed to sit with Cormac at the Gryffindor table. It usually took begging for her to sit with him, despite them being best friends, and even then she never budged. Jane intensely disliked sitting at the Gryffindor table. She much preferred the safety of her own house’s table, the Ravenclaw table. She avoided the Gryffindor table at all costs, never sitting there. Not even when she was dating Dean Thomas in her fifth year. 

Jane skimmed through her textbooks, cross referencing multiple chapters. She would turn the page too early and she held onto it and didn’t let the page drop from her fingertips until she read the front and then the back of it. Then it would drop. She always did. 

“I think you’re perfect.” Cormac whispered.

She looked up at him. Her mouth was slightly agape. She looked at him with soft eyes.

_She’s going to say the same back._

Cormac’s heart was thumping in his chest.

But instead, suddenly, she dipped her pointer finger in her bowl of blueberry yogurt, reached over and smeared it on Cormac’s cheek.

“I think you have yogurt on your face.” She said, deadpan. She popped her pointer finger in her mouth for the residue yogurt.

He couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed and surprised. But things could have been worse. She could have taken it seriously and walked away. But didn’t he mean it seriously?

He took his napkin from his lap and wiped the yogurt from his cheek. 

Jane smirked. “Oh, and I _know_ I’m perfect.” 

Cormic decided to enact revenge. He dipped his finger in his little dollop of jam that was on his plate and pressed it onto Jane’s forehead. “Are you really though if you have jam on your face?” He said, smugly. 

Jane looked back at him and wiped the jam off her forehead with the sleeve of her cardigan. Quickly, she dipped her finger into her yogurt and reached over but Cormac was too fast for her. He grabbed her wrist.

“Ugh. Curse you.” Jane smiled. 

But Cormac didn’t let her go and Jane didn’t try to wriggle her wrist out of his grasp. Her silver bracelet felt cold against his warm hand. 

She reached over with her free hand. This time, reaching for his hair. Cormac grabbed that wrist too. His ring clinked against Jane’s watch.

“I’m trying to fix your hair.” Jane said. 

“Oh, funny trick.” Cormac said, skeptical. “Ha ha ha.”

She opened her hand and spread out her fingers. “Clean, see?” She crosses her fingers. “No tricks. Promise.”

After a moment, Cormac let her wrist go.

“You’re such a mess.” She whispered, almost to herself. She didn’t say it critically but rather endearingly. It was those murmurs that would have made Cormac jump through hoops.

She reached over and started smoothing out his hair, running her fingers through it so it ran in the right direction. 

“Your hair is really soft.” She whispered again.

When she was done, she pulled her hand out of his hair but she let the tips of his hair rest in between her finger tips. They stayed like that for a moment and they just stared at each other. 

That silence felt like an eternity and for a moment, they forgot that they were in the busy dining hall and Jane didn’t care that she was sitting at the Gryffindor table instead of the Ravenclaw one.

The light shone through one of the windows of the Great Hall and landed right on her. She swapped her usual crystal stud earrings for a small hoop earring that hugged her earlobe. She grew out of her bangs completely. It only took a few months. The pieces of her hair that she left out of her high ponytail framed her face perfectly. _Has she always been this pretty?_

“Jane.” Blaise called out her name as he made his way to her, smiling.

Jane quickly pulled her wrist out of Cormac’s grip and pulled both her arms to her side. She wiped the yogurt off her finger onto her napkin and rested her forearms on the table.

Blaise and Jane’s relationship was a recent development. They started dating in January and now it’s March. But they knew of each other for longer, much longer. They spent the past six years sitting together in Astronomy. At one point, at the encouragement of Professor Sinstra, Jane was his tutor. You see, Jane and Blaise are in the same year but they weren’t friends until fifth year. And now they’re dating. And for some reason, that makes twists Cormac‘s heart in a way he can’t explain and makes him feel something he doesn’t know. 

Blaise came up behind Jane and put his hands on her shoulders. “How are you?” He smiled.

She melted at the sight of him. “Good. You?” She tugged on her sleeves so it went up to her knuckles. Her nervous habit. She wore out a lot of sweaters that way. 

Her smile was different when she was around Blaise than when she was others. Her smile wasn’t forced and it was more toothy, more genuine. Her voice was a bit different too. Like she was in a dream-like trance. 

Blaise was a bit different too. He seemed to be more relaxed around her. There was more bounce and pep in his step. He didn’t seem standoffish when he was around her at all. 

“You excited for our date tonight? You didn’t forget, did you?” Blaise joked. He chuckled.

“Oh, how could I ever forget about you?” Jane said. She placed her hand on top of Blaise’s.

Blaise and Jane continued on with their conversation eagerly, smiling and blushing and bantering. It was as if Jane forgot Cormac was there and he tried to divert his attention to something else.

 _Breakfast. Breakfast is good._

Cormac took a bite of his toast and he sipped on his orange juice. 

Sometimes he forgot that she wasn’t his. 


End file.
